How we make used tires into roadways

As the world becomes increasing linked and mobile, so does the amount of cars on the road.  And naturally, as the amount of people with cars increases, so does the amount of tires we use.  This is especially prevalent in the United States.  In the United States, 77% of used car tires are illegally dumped, or sent to landfills.  And considering approximately 242 million tires are discarded annually, that is a monumental amount of waste product. 

Although the problem of getting rid of tires has grown exponentially, it is by no means a new problem.  When a car comes to the end of its life, it is scrapped.  A scrap yard will take the usable parts off the car for resale, and the rest of the metal on the car is recycled.  But what about the tires?   Well do to the chemical bonding used to create tires; we could never do much with them.  They cannot for example be melted down into new tires.  Not to mention, tires come in many different varieties, all having different properties and different chemical formulas.  So what has happened to these tires historically?  Well nothing, but try and dispose of them in a dumpster and expect to receive a ticket.  Try and put them in your trash for the garbage men to pick up, and expect them to leave them their.  It is illegal in many places to simply “throw away” tires.  So what do we do with them?  Well many times you need to take them to a tire distributer or recycling plant, and maybe even pay them to take the tires.   Tires are then stock piled, were they sit, collect water, and leach chemicals into the environment.  Well now, finally, we have something to do with them.  We can now re-integrate the rubber into an asphalt mix.  The tire is ground up into little pieces, the metal belts are removed and recycle, and the rubber is heated up and added to asphalt.  This is a great way to recycle tires, but also really benefits the asphalt we lay on our roads.  This “rubber infused” material provides a lot of benefits when compared to its counterpart.  Tires grip the road much better when it has the recycled compound in it, making for better traction.  This makes for safer roadways.  The compound is also slightly flexible, which is the main benefit.  The United States has one of the poorest and oldest infrastructures of other prominent countries.  Partly because we simply cannot repair our roads as fast as they fall apart.  The reason asphalt on roads breaks apart is largely due to the ground moving.  Especially in regions were the ground freezes and thaws.  Well this new rubber infused asphalt flexes to counteract that.  This proves for a much longer pavement life, which translates directly into saving money.  So overall, this process gets rid of used tire hoards, it makes our roads last longer, and it saves money!  And those are all largely beneficial to the country, and the world.